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Questions & Answers about Der Unterricht ist vorbei.
What is the grammatical gender of Unterricht, and how can I know whether to use der, die, or das?
Unterricht is a masculine noun, so you always use der in the singular. In German every noun has one of three genders and often you must learn the correct article along with the noun (e.g. der Tisch, die Lampe, das Buch). Unfortunately there’s no foolproof rule for all nouns, so it’s best to memorize “der Unterricht” as a unit or look it up in a dictionary.
Why isn’t Unterricht pluralized here? Why not die Unterrichte?
In this context Unterricht is an uncountable (mass) noun, like “teaching” or “education” in English. You wouldn’t say “the teachings are over” in that sense. If you want to refer to individual lessons or periods, you’d say die Unterrichtsstunde (singular) or die Unterrichtsstunden (plural), or simply die Stunde / die Stunden.
What part of speech is vorbei, and why does it come at the end of the sentence?
Here vorbei is a predicative adverb (sometimes called a particle) that expresses the state “over” or “finished.” In German V2 word order, the conjugated verb (ist) must be in second position, and predicative elements like vorbei follow in the final slot:
… ist (verb) … vorbei (predicate adverb).
Why is ist used instead of hat?
Because the phrase is the verb vorbei sein (“to be over”), not something that takes haben. You’re describing a state of being (“the lesson is over”), so German uses sein as the main verb.
Could I say Der Unterricht war vorbei instead of ist vorbei?
Yes—war is the simple past (Präteritum) of sein, so Der Unterricht war vorbei means “the lesson was over.” But if you want to say it’s over right now, you use the present tense ist vorbei.
What’s the difference between vorbei sein and zu Ende sein?
They mean essentially the same thing (“to be over/finished”). Der Unterricht ist vorbei sounds a bit more colloquial, while Der Unterricht ist zu Ende is slightly more formal or literary. Both are perfectly acceptable.
Can I use another verb form like Der Unterricht ist vorbeigegangen?
No. vorbeigehen means “to go past” physically (e.g. Wir sind am Haus vorbeigegangen). It doesn’t mean “to finish.” Stick with vorbei sein or zu Ende sein to express “to be over.”
When is vorbei a preposition, and when is it an adverb?
As an adverb (predicative), it follows sein and stands alone: Der Film ist vorbei. As a preposition it must be used with an plus the dative case: Wir sind an der Schule vorbeigegangen (“We walked past the school”).
Can I drop the article and say Unterricht ist vorbei?
No. In a full German sentence you normally need the article before the noun: Der Unterricht ist vorbei. Without the article it sounds like a headline or note, not a complete sentence. Only in very abstract or general statements is dropping the article possible (e.g. Er mag Unterricht, “He likes teaching”), but not here.
How would I turn this into a question to ask “Is the lesson over?”
Invert the subject and the verb to form a yes/no question:
Ist der Unterricht vorbei?